Art Lande's TAJ Quintet

Art Lande's TAJ Quintet

TAJ was created in 2016 by Tim Wendel, Art Lande, and Josh Reed to play new, challenging, original music. Exploring beauty, complexity, and the possibilities inherent in the guitar, piano, and trumpet, this band offers each musician the opportunity to play any and all musical roles. Adding to the trio are Peter Barshay on bass and Alan Hall on drums. The ability of this unconventional group to explore, create, and present original compositions and well known music in original and interesting ways is key to TAJ and the TAJ Quintet.

Grammy-nominated Art Lande is an internationally known pianist, composer, improviser, drummer and educator who has performed with a long list of the Who's Who in jazz, including Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Bobby Hutcherson, Steve Swallow, Charlie Haden, Kenny Wheeler, Sheila Jordan, Mark Isham, Paul McCandless, Jan Garbarek and many others. He formed Rubisa Patrol in the mid 70's and recorded albums for ECM records, traveled, lived and taught in Europe before moving to Boulder, Colorado, where he played a weekly performance for 15 years. He continues to teach, perform and compose just about everywhere and his live performances are full of musical adventure, inspiration, spontaneity, warmth and soul. artlande.com

Tim Wendel is a versatile guitarist, composer and educator. After immersing himself in the Philadelphia jazz seen for ten years, he moved to Boulder, CO, where, in 2014, he received his M.A. in Jazz Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado. Tim has performed at Carnegie Hall, toured the east coast and Rocky Mountain region with original rock, funk, jazz and classical projects and has traveled the entire United States as a member of the Broadway National Tour of The Color Purple. He has performed with such notable jazz artists as Dave Liebman, Dave Douglas, Ralph Alessi, Art Lande, Terell Stafford, Jaleel Shaw and Jef Lee Johnson, among many others. timwendelmusic.com

Trumpeter Dr. Josh D Reed holds degrees from the University of Colorado Boulder, the Eastman School of Music, and James Madison University. As a performer, Dr. Reed has shared the stage with artists such as Dave Douglas, Brad Goode, Art Lande, Greg Gisbert, Paquito D'Rivera and Jovino Santos Neto. He has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Costa Rica. He leads his own trio, quartet, and quintet and a member of Matt Smiley's Art Deco, The Dru Heller Quintet, Adam Bartczak's Republic, The Emily Takahashi Quintet, and TAJ with Tim Wendel and Art Lande. After serving as director or the Jazz Program at the University of Missouri, Dr. Reed is currently a faculty member at Santa Clara University. joshdreed.com

Peter Barshay is a veteran bassist who has established a strong reputation over the years from his sideman work on both the New York City and San Francisco Bay Area jazz scenes. He has performed with such jazz luminaries as Kenny Barron, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Werner, Shirley Horn, Woody Shaw, Pharoah Sanders, Blue Mitchell, Tony Williams, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Johnny Griffin and Bobby McFerrin. Barshay’s numerous appearances at clubs and jazz festivals have taken him around the world, helping to establish his reputation as a solid, reliable bassist. Having soaked up a lifetime of sounds on both coasts -everything from salsa and straight ahead to funk-fusion, avant garde and music derived from the Afro-Cuban and Brazilian traditions -- he brings a wealth of experience to the musical table. peterbarshay.com

A former Berklee College of Music faculty member, Alan Hall, is an associate professor at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley and lecturer at Cal State East Bay as well as UC Berkeley. He's been teaching for over 35 years and his performing career includes stints with Eddie Harris, Paul McCandless, Billy Childs, Kenny Werner, Triceratops, Lee Konitz, Rebecca Parris and Cirque de Soleil. His compositional appetite has also been a creative force behind his own Bay Area bands Electreo and Rata-tet. jazzdrumming.com